How to respond to the headlines

Afghanistan and Haiti.
COVID fears and climate change.
The headlines every morning rock our days.
And yet there is a vaccine
that protects from viral fear.
It’s called “trusting God
when life becomes a maze!”

Our world is racked by heartache.
Everyday there’s something new.
Seems we take it all for granted hardly fazed.
But the truth is
headlines haunt us.
And our faith succumbs to doubt
if we fail to trust the Lord within this maze.

So we dare not grin and bear it.
There is far too much at stake
to just blindly carry on amid the haze.
Start each day with calm assurance
that the Lord is in control
and that He will help us navigate life’s maze.

What it takes to walk free

The journey
to a meaningful
and fulfilling life
begins with twelve steps.

As toddlers
take their first steps
learning how to stand,
balance and walk,
so those with childlike faith
learn to walk with God
(as they perceive Him)
by taking twelve important steps
toward freedom.

They are twelve steps
that lead from a cold dark place
into the sunlight and warmth
of God’s amazing grace.
Learning these steps
allows for more than making progress.
Learning these steps
means your have the means to
do a victory dance one day at a time.

Ron Popeil’s death prompts thoughts of eternal life

The recent passing
of late night informercial pitchman
Ron (Veg-o-Matic) Popeil
got me thinking about our universal attraction
to short cuts and quick solutions.

But no matter how you slice it or dice it,
we can’t cut corners
when it comes to becoming a Christian.
There’s no earning a relationship with our Creator.
There’s no getting cuts in the Disneyland-long line for Heaven.

We will never be good enough
to merit the favor of a holy God
who doesn’t grade on the curve.
But a God who refuses to wink at sin
still couldn’t close His eyes on those created in His image.
The Creator’s heart pulsated passionately
like a mother for her child.

And God’s unconditional love
for flawed imperfect individuals
(like you and me)
drove Him to find a way
for His righteous requirements to be met
without sacrificing His integrity as a holy deity.

Becoming one with us,
and experiencing our passions,
hungers, fears and grief firsthand,
this God-Man drank the poison of our plight
dying in our place.
His perfect life and undeserved death
was accepted by the Holy One
as just payment for the moral debt of humankind.

And that’s not all.
The God-Man who gave his life
to meet the holy demands of a holy God
defeated death standing up
to those who laid Him flat.

But wait! There’s more.
All that is necessary for us
to experience the abundant life our Creator intended
has been achieved.
But we must personally appropriate the transaction
that was made on our behalf.
To activate what has been funded to us
by an account transfer,
we must check the box that says “I accept.”

By faith we must acknowledge our flawed nature
and our need of a Savior.
We must thank a good God
that our bad choices have been forgiven.
Isn’t that great news?
Isn’t that better than sliced bread?